It is well known that various dental and medical procedures require physical stabilization of applicable portions of the human body. Furthermore, closely fitting a support structure to certain portions of the body is well known and the technique is frequently utilized to provide a high degree of comfort to that portion of the body which is so supported.
The known prior art supports this representation. U.S. Pat. No. 1,893,548 (Hardy) teaches the use of baffles to discourage movement of down filler in a sleeping bag; U.S. Pat. No. 2,464,380 (Daiber) teaches connecting of outer membranes of an insulated garment to prevent movement of the filler material therebetween; U.S. Pat. No. 4,281,873 (Holland) uses "zip" of "press studs" to close off a predetermined volume in a "bean bag" furniture structure to restrict movement of the filler material within that volume--the technique taught there is to create either a bed or a chair with the same filler material being moved from one envelope structure to another.
As understood, French Pat. No. 2,464,066 (Pelosse) appears to teach the use of a bag enclosed filler which becomes relatively rigid when the air therein is evacuated. Once the filler is distributed to make the bag fit the patient's form, the air evacuation process ensures that the shape of the bag is stabilized. Canadian Patent number 934,078 (Sakita) teaches essentially the same technique with some detail shown as to valving and screening to prevent evacuation of the filler material along with the air.
The United States patents, supra, do not teach or suggest that the inventions of those patents could be used to restrain and shape a structure used for support of the human body when in a relatively vertical or inclined position. Nor do they hint at a solution for the problem created by different body sizes which may exceed the range of capacity afforded by a single sized body support bag structure. The foreign patents do attack these problems, but by a relatively expensive method involving evacuation pumps, valves and screens. Furthermore, because of the need for evacuation pumps, those systems are not portable.